This invention relates in general to a refillable ink ribbon cartridge, and in particular to a ribbon cartridge including a replaceable ink ribbon supply unit which fits an adapter having a ribbon driving mechanism for easy replacement after depletion of the ribbon.
Refillable ink ribbon cartridges are known in the art as shown in German Patent DE-OS No. 3 524 730. This refillable ink ribbon cartridge includes a housing which contains a feed reel with a feed core. The feed core is fixed with respect to rotation on a brake disk rotatably mounted in a casing. A ribbon tensioning device interacts with the brake disk. The ink ribbon is pulled from the feed reel via the ribbon tensioning device and ribbon guiding elements on the free ends of two protruding legs of the housing to a take-up core. The take-up core is rotatably mounted on a spring loaded swivel arm. The swivel arm presses the take-up core against a sprocket wheel which is fixedly mounted to the housing and includes a driving pin to engage the driving element of a typewriter or printer.
A new ribbon is inserted by first removing the cartridge from the typewriter. The swivel arm with the take-up reel is swung away from the sprocket by means of a lever. At this point, the take-up reel containing the used ribbon and the feed core are removed from the typewriter. The new feed reel is placed on the brake disk and a new take-up core is placed on the swivel arm. The free end of the ribbon is then pulled through the ribbon guiding elements to the take-up core. A pin with a preset breaking point is fastened at the beginning of the ribbon. The lower section of the pin is finally placed into a slot of the take-up core and the remainder of the pin is broken off. After the cover has been closed, the reloaded cartridge is inserted into the typewriter.
This reloading procedure is both complicated and time consuming, because the entire cartridge must be removed from the typewriter for reloading. Furthermore, when the lever is locked, the take-up core swings against the sprocket wheel whereby the ribbon becomes loose. This causes the first windings on the take-up reel to be wound poorly which can cause difficulties with further winding.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a reloadable ink cartridge which overcomes the shortcomings of prior art device as described above and allows the easy reloading and refilling of the ribbon into a refillable ink ribbon cartridge.